“Exceptional” – Charlton teenage defender earns big praise from manager Nigel Adkins

Nigel Adkins has described Deji Elerewe as “exceptional’ in the way the teenage centre-back acquitted himself on his debut on Tuesday night.

The 17-year-old replaced Ryan Inniss at half-time in Charlton’s 2-1 defeat at Milton Keynes.

Elerewe has impressed for the Addicks in their pre-season friendlies.

And he got the nod ahead of the experienced Jason Pearce to come on in Buckinghamshire in midweek for the League One fixture.

Adkins said: “He’s been exceptional, as a lot of the youngsters have been – they have been given an opportunity. And they are grasping it.

“I’m bold enough and experienced enough that I’ve done it at every club I’ve been at – at the highest level. If a youngster is ready, I’ll go and play them. And I’ll look after him as well because everybody makes mistakes. Young players will make mistakes, it’s how we then go and learn from them mistakes. If we haven’t got the confidence to put them in that situation, and look after them, then maybe we’ve got to wonder why do we have academies in the first place?

“It was planned to take Ryan Inniss off at half time. Deji comes on…and he was outstanding.

“We showed him a debrief this morning. They’ve gone down the line a bit, Akin has put a great block in to stop the cross coming in – but Deji has tracked his runner and made sure that if the cross had come in that the centre-forward is going to get there before him.

“Another clip we highlighted where he’s won the ball on the halfway line – a tower of strength. He’s gained his composure very, very quickly, head up, and put a beautiful diagonal ball into Kirk, and we’re off and playing again.”

PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS